October 3, 2010

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE Chinese food. In the past, it seems that whenever I’ve tried to make it at home, it just doesn’t come out as tasty as take-out.

Thanks to Bon Appetit, that is no longer the case.

This dish is perfect. It will have your family and friends asking for seconds, so you might want to double the recipe. (We fought over the leftovers.)

Beef, Mushroom & Snow Pea Stir-Fry

1lb. sirloin steak, sliced into thin strips

1TBS Asian sesame oil

1TBS minced (and peeled) fresh ginger

2 large handfuls of mushrooms (I used Cremini, but the original recipe called for Shiitake — use what you like!)

1 large handful of fresh snow peas

1 bunch green onions, sliced, divided

i cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped and divided

5TBS Hoisin sauce

3 cloves fresh garlic, roughly chopped

1TBS Sriracha

1/4TSP Chinese five-spice powder (You can find this at the grocery store, but I made my own)

Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick pan over med/hi heat. Add ginger and mushrooms; stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add beef to skillet and stir-fry for another minute. Add snow peas, half of the onions, half of the cilantro and stir-fry for 1 minute. Stir in hoisin, Srircha, garlic and five-spice powder. Saute until peas are crisp tender, about 2 minutes.

Serve over brown rice and top with freshly chopped cilantro and green onions.

To prepare pot stickers, bring sherry and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat; add mushrooms. Cover and let stand 30 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Drain and discard liquid. Finely chop mushrooms. Combine mushrooms, bok choy, and the next 9 ingredients (bok choy through chicken), stirring well.

Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers with a damp towel to prevent drying), spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons chicken mixture into center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of dough with water; bring 2 opposite corners to center, pinching points to seal. Bring the remaining 2 corners to center, pinching points to seal. Pinch 4 edges together to seal. Place pot stickers on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch.